On Friday of QuiltCon I was in Bill Volckening's tour of the special exhibits. It was nice to get Bill's perspective about these quilts and also his personal stories. Bill is a quilt collector and maker from Portland, OR. He is also known as a Quilt Magnet and Sniper. Don't try to compete against him in an eBay auction! His exhibit of 1970's quilts was quite stunning!

First up is the Gee's Bend exhibit, then the Modern Materials exhibit. Remember, these are all clickable to see more detail. Also, remember this is my take on the show and I don't have photos of every quilt. Please alert me if you notice that I've made a mistake on the attributions. Enjoy!

Gee's Bend Quilt Exhibit

Railroad CrossingChina Pettway

Railroad Crossing detail

Devil's Walking StickMary Margret Pettway

Housetop with Center StripesLola Pettway

Lazy Gal BarsLucy Lee Pettway-Witherspoon

Corduroy Mix #02Qunnie Pettway

Brick Layer CorduroyNancy Pettway

Housetop VariationNancy Pettway

Royal StackMary Margret Pettway

Housetop Red and TurquoiseRuth Kennedy

The Gee's Bend exhibit was beautifully laid out with this viewing area for the Why Quilts Matter episode on the Gee's Bend Quilters.

Gee's Bend Keynote

The Keynote was on Saturday and was as inspirational as you can imagine. The four Gee's Bend quilters on the panel are Mary Ann Pettway, Lucy Witherspoon, China Pettway, and Gloria Hoppins. They sang for us and spoke about their experiences in Gee's Bend, before and after being "discovered" by the greater art world. They also spoke about the Gee's Bend Collective. Mary Ann showed some new work that is pretty exciting. I am looking forward to seeing some of these ladies again in July at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show!

PS- I can't find any evidence of a Gee's Bend Collective website, but did find this charming blog post by Kate Spain who visited there in 2013.

Modern Materials: Quilts of the 1970's

From the Collection of Bill Volckening

Grandmother's FansPolyesterUnknown Maker, Texas

Bill's tour was insightful and full of interesting stories. His collection of 1970's quilts is colorful, sometimes wacky, sometimes elegant and always entertaining. If you have a chance to see these quilts, don't miss them! Many are made with double knit polyester, some are made from cotton.